''Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music'' is a 2006 book by
Wendy Fonarow
Wendy Fonarow is a Los Angeles based anthropologist, writer, music industry professional and Professor of Anthropology at Glendale Community College. She is best known for her book ''Empire of Dirt'', one of the first academic monographs on ind ...
.
Contents
The title of the book comes from one verse from the song "
Hurt" by
Nine Inch Nails ("and you could have it all, my empire of dirt"). Fonarow was given a vinyl edition of the Cash album ''
American IV
''American IV: The Man Comes Around'' is the sixty-seventh studio album by Johnny Cash. It was released on November 5, 2002, by American Recordings and Universal Records. It is the fourth in Cash's "American" series of albums, and the last albu ...
'' by
Alan McGee
Alan John McGee (born 29 September 1960) is a Scottish businessman and music industry executive. He has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for ''The Guardian''. He co-founded the independent Creation Records label, r ...
, founder of
Creation Records
Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...
while writing the manuscript.
The cover, designed by
Matthew Cooper, depicts a typical indie band (2 guitarists, a
bass player
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low br ...
and a drummer all thin) in
silhouette
A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...
(see
sleeperbloke).
In chapter 1 the author discuss 'What Is "Indie"?'. A problem with defining indie is that any precise definition will exclude music and performers which indie fans and insiders feel should be included or include ones that should be excluded. These are some possible definitions:
[page 26]
# Indie music is the one which is recorded by
independent labels and
distributed Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
*Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...
via independent distributors. Records distributed via independent distributors qualified for the
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rel ...
.
# a genre of music with a distinctive sound and style.
# music that communicates a particular ethos.
# a category of
critical assessment.
# music different from other genres like mainstream pop,
dance,
blues,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
or classical.
Reviews
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References
External links
* {{cite web , url= http://www.upne.com/0-8195-6810-4.html , title= Empire of Dirt , publisher= Wesleyan University Press
2006 non-fiction books
Indie music
Books about pop music